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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Winners of the Rust-Tex Collection

Deborah Gregory's work focuses on nature’s cycle of growth, flowering, decay and re-creation. Rust on fiber fits neatly with decomposition. After she rusts fabric, she burns it, and colors it to represent decay. There is an article on The Textile Blog where you can read about her philosophy. It is titled: Textile Artist Deborah Gregory and the Cycle of Decay and Renewal. Click here to link to the article.Strata

This work was inspired by how layers of earth form and tell a story in each layer. The rust formed layers of heavy staining that reminded me of the way iron and other elements sometimes form a design in the side of a hill when excavated.

Here is a quote from her website:My goal is to go beyond the visible record of our climate's seasons and uncover what is just beyond. I expose the images hidden in the fabric to form a record of my spiritual connection to the earth and celebrate the mystery of our existence.

Deborah made the rust marks with her favorite “ruster”, a window sash weight she found in a hardware store that sells recycled items. First she wraps wet fabric around it. Then she added more water and a bit of salt to the already wet fabric. She lets it sit for several days, to encourage the rust process. When she likes the pattern she see, she takes the fabric off the item and starts to make a quilt of it.

Deborah strives to depict the beauty of decomposition or decay and honor earth’s cycles this way.

You can see the entire The Rust-Tex Collection at International Quilt Festival-Chicago. I will be in booth 1632 selling rust dyed fabric and copies of a CD with the 25 winners of The Rust-Tex Collection on it.